Hattori Racing inks Brett Moffitt to NASCAR Truck Series deal

The 25-year-old is a former Toyota development driver

Brett Moffitt will drive the No. 16 for Hattori Racing Enterprises in the Truck Series this season.

Brett Moffitt hopes to compete for a championship in the Camping World Truck Series this season with the announcement that he will drive the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16 this season.

Moffitt takes over for Ryan Truex, who departed for the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing, and will be reunited with both the team and crew chief Scott Zippadelli from prior stops in the industry. The 25-year-old completed two K&N Pro Series East seasons with HRE, finishing third and second in 2012 and 2013.

He also finished 17th at Michigan International Speedway in a HRE truck back in 2013. Additionally, his lone series victory came at Michigan in 2016 for Red Horse Racing with Zippadelli calling the shots.

"Working with Zippy again makes this opportunity even better," Moffitt said in a press release. "We had a great stretch together a couple years ago, especially winning at Michigan. Hopefully we can do that again, because Zippy, Shige (Hattori, team owner) and everyone at HRE have built an impressive program over the last two years."

Moffitt intended to compete for a championship last season with Red Horse before the team shut down in May. He completed the season by taking part in a series of one-offs across all three national tours. He has 31 starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and finished eighth at Atlanta Motor Speedway while driving for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Hattori is looking forward to building off his previously established history with Moffitt once the tour begins anew at Daytona.

"I am so glad to have Brett back with us at HRE," Hattori said. "We enjoyed working together several years ago and he has made the most of every opportunity he’s had in this sport over the last few years, especially in the NCWTS. He’s proven he can win races and is deserving of the opportunity.

"It’s great to have AISIN Group’s continued support of our team and to have them reunited with Brett. We’re very proud of the program we have built with Scott and the entire team, and we’re looking forward to having Brett behind the wheel and elevating our performance even further this season."